Experimental Diary and the Death God Contract

Upon detecting an anomaly in the wall.

Uchiha Ao did not act rashly.

The Second Hokage Senju Tobirama was a man of deep suspicion; hiding such a place within a wall meant it was either something of great value or a trap.

It was likely designed to be hidden from ordinary people, specifically to ensnare those with ulterior motives.

To avoid being ensnared by Senju Tobirama.

He inspected it several times.

He scrutinized every suspicious detail repeatedly.

He discovered two hidden mechanisms, though as time had passed, some of the original facilities had failed, leaving only faint patterns on the wall.

The first was the outermost concealment genjutsu; having lost its Chakra maintenance, only a shadow of Chakra remained, lacking its original effect.

This was what allowed him to discover traces of the hidden chamber.

The second was a detonation trap; without the specific method of contact, it would cause the contents inside to explode. If one were even slightly careless, the result would be a severed finger or arm at best, or being blown to death on the spot at worst.

However, under the observation of the Sharingan, after clearing away the Explosive Tags, the explosive effect had been neutralized.

After dealing with these two issues.

Ao opened the place Senju Tobirama had hidden.

It was a dark chamber of about sixty square centimeters, containing three items.

A notebook two fingers thick, filled with content; the paper showed signs of weathering from the passage of time.

Ao picked it up and flipped to the first and last pages, discovering it was the Experimental Diary of Senju Tobirama, recording his ninjutsu research from the age of ten up to the summary of his final research project.

From it, one could discern the research methodology of Senju Tobirama.

It was an excellent piece of data that could provide significant inspiration and reference for future research.

The second item was a Contract Scroll.

Contracting party... Death God.

Contractor... Ashina Uzumaki.

Ao looked at the content with some confusion; why would something like this, a contract of the Uzumaki Family, be in the hands of Senju Tobirama?

Could it be that Senju Tobirama obtained this during the destruction of the Uzumaki Family?

Judging by the content of this contract, it appeared to be a pact signed between a certain Uzumaki clan leader and a ghost god, trading their own soul in exchange for a sealing technique.

Although the contract did not describe the name of the technique, Ao, through the hand seals described on it, immediately understood the name of the jutsu—Dead Demon Consuming Seal.

He had once seen the hand seals for this jutsu in the data provided by Orochimaru.

Snake-Boar-Ram-Hare-Dog-Rat-Bird-Horse-Snake!

After forming the seals, one could summon the Death God, sacrifice their own power, and obtain the Death God's help to devour the soul of an enemy.

After Ao carefully examined the content, he felt there was nothing special about it; it simply described a very straightforward matter.

It didn't even have detailed clauses.

It only stated that a soul had been exchanged with a ghost god.

Why would it be worth Senju Tobirama keeping it in a secret chamber?

Ao was puzzled.

He pondered for a moment...

And decided to try a different way of viewing it to see if he could uncover its secrets.

Ao immediately sat cross-legged on the ground, his hands quickly forming a set of hand seals!

"Spirit Transformation Technique!"

His soul, emitting a pale blue light, slowly floated upward.

In this spirit state.

One could see many details hidden from reality.

When he looked at the Contract Scroll again in his soul form.

He discovered that this paper, made of an unknown material, was actually emitting a dark, gloomy light.

A thread of energy pulled toward a certain place in the void.

When Ao followed the thread, a terrifying ghost face, a monster with a green face and fangs, suddenly appeared before his eyes.

The existence of the monster seemed to perceive his gaze; its face suddenly shifted, staring straight at Uchiha Ao.

Just from being looked at, a strong sense of crisis welled up from the bottom of Ao's heart.

A strange gravitational force faintly emerged from the void, slowly pulling him into it.

Something is wrong!

This damn thing can track me back along the thread!?

Uchiha Ao reacted instantly, snapping out of his soul-projection state and returning to his body.

"Damn it! Senju Tobirama... leaving behind something this terrifying, you scared the hell out of me!"

"Is this really research that a Jonin who just left the newbie village like me should be meddling in?"

"Was that the Death God!?"

After his soul returned to his body, Uchiha Ao cursed with a pale, livid face.

Senju Tobirama was truly a devious old fox.

He had almost fallen for it!

This contract was similar to the Uzumaki Mask, capable of establishing a direct connection to the actual Death God—and it might not even be an avatar, but the real entity itself.

Uchiha Ao flipped the Contract Scroll over and discovered the back was densely packed with a long list of names from the Uzumaki Clan; it seemed every successive caster had inscribed their name upon it.

What kind of material was this paper made of to maintain such a texture after all these years?

Uchiha Ao felt as if an invisible gaze was watching him. Not daring to delay any longer, he quickly retrieved the box Orochimaru had opened earlier, placed the Contract Scroll inside, closed it, and used Chakra to create an insulating barrier, simply masking its aura.

Then, he sealed it into a scroll.

Only then did the feeling of being watched, like needles pricking his back, begin to fade.

Hiss.

Uchiha Ao gasped, feeling as though he had been tainted by something unclean.

Damn the Uzumaki Clan.

He cursed inwardly; being targeted by something like this was truly bad luck.

Perhaps he should visit the Uzumaki ruins to see if that mask could dispel this lingering misfortune.

He would also need to learn some sealing jutsu...

Better safe than sorry.

He pondered silently, his gaze drifting toward the final item resting in the secret chamber.

A specially crafted Kunai, inscribed with unique seals.

The markings on the seals looked somewhat familiar.

After picking it up and examining it closely, Uchiha Ao realized it bore a striking resemblance to the Contract Scroll he had just seen—what was the purpose of this thing? Controlling souls?

Wait...

Would Senju Tobirama really leave something so simple here?

He asked himself.

If he were Senju Tobirama, he certainly wouldn't leave such a simple, standard-issue Kunai in a place like this.

He pondered for a moment.

Suddenly, he sensed movement behind him.

Turning around, he saw the figure of Orochimaru appearing at the entrance of the laboratory.

"Ao-kun, it seems you've discovered something quite extraordinary!"

Orochimaru asked, his eyes filled with greed.

After a period of cultivation, his soul had not weakened from the Living Corpse Reincarnation; instead, it had grown even stronger.

He had keenly sensed the commotion Uchiha Ao made inside the laboratory.

He immediately dropped what he was doing and rushed over.

He arrived just in time to see Uchiha Ao examining a strange, custom-made Kunai.

"Teacher, this is something left behind by the Second Hokage. I couldn't figure out its purpose, so I was just about to bring it to you."

Uchiha Ao turned, waved his hand, and immediately handed the Kunai over to Orochimaru.

Orochimaru took a subtle look at the state of the laboratory; compared to when he had entered earlier, two useless boxes were missing.

Everything else remained untouched.

Yet, he had discovered the Second Hokage's secret chamber in the middle of the empty lab.

This kid... he really is meticulous!

He managed to find a place hidden so well.

A flash of admiration crossed Orochimaru's mind. He had been too focused on gathering items earlier; because he was in a hurry, he had opened one of the two wooden boxes, found nothing, and ignored the rest.

He hadn't expected there to be a hidden world behind those boxes.

"This Kunai is a custom-made Flying Thunder God Kunai, inscribed with the Second Hokage's exclusive mark..."

Orochimaru took the Kunai, gave it a brief glance, and spoke.

Suddenly, after observing it carefully, he discovered something different.

"Wait... no... this isn't the Flying Thunder God!"

Orochimaru suddenly pulled out a scroll, spread it open in his hands, and quickly skipped over the preceding content, flipping directly to the very end.

A pattern, extremely similar to the one on the kunai, appeared on the scroll.

"Impure World Reincarnation: Soul Manipulation Technique!"

A flush of unnatural crimson surged onto Orochimaru's face as he spoke with an excited expression.

"I never expected the Second Hokage to have already developed this! But he didn't describe it in the research materials for the Impure World Reincarnation, and this seal is not yet perfect..."

"What kind of method did he come up with to solve the problem of soul control?"

"With this, the Impure World Reincarnation Jutsu would be complete! But Second Hokage... why didn't you use it during the First Ninja World War?"

Orochimaru muttered to himself in confusion, the bewilderment on his face gradually fading as his eyes reddened slightly.

"Second Hokage..."

Orochimaru gritted his teeth and spat out the words.

This technique, which could resurrect the dead and restore nearly half of their former combat strength—if he had only summoned the First Hokage, even with only half his power, he could have easily quelled the First Ninja World War.

If that had happened, his parents would not have sacrificed their lives because of the war.

Second Hokage...

What exactly were you thinking!

The expression on Orochimaru's face turned gloomy, and a trace of hatred even surged in his eyes.

The expression that had always remained so calm was, at this moment, uncharacteristically losing its composure.